Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 02-08
Thursday, January 10, 2007, 22:30 UTC  (Friday, January 11, 10:30 KST)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR  CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH: ORANGE
KARYMSKY and BEZYMIANNY:  YELLOW
KLYUCHEVSKOY, TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KIZIMEN, AVACHINSKY, KORYAKSKY, GORELY and MUTNOVSKY: GREEN

NORTHERN KURILES:
CHIKURACHKI, EBEKO and ALAID: GREEN

CURRENT CHANGES IN COLOR CODE:
GORELY and MUTNOVSKY NOW ARE AT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: GREEN
 
GORELY VOLCANO: 52°33'N, 158°02'E, Elevation 1,829 m and MUTNOVSKY VOLCANO:  52°27'N, 158°12'E Elevation 2,323 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE  IS GREEN
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: YELLOW

Seismicity of the volcanoes area was slightly above background levels last three weeks. There were no confirmations about increasing of activity on those volcanoes yet.

There is  one seismic station at the area of Mutnovsky and Gorely volcanoes. KB GS  RAS staff cannot identify a sours of seismic activity. Seismic activity of the volcanoes area was slightly above background levels all week. Clouds obscured the volcanoes all week. According to satellite data, the volcanoes were quiet.

SHEVELUCH VOLCANO: 56°38'N, 161°19'E; Elevation 3,283 m, the dome elevation ~2,500 m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE

Activity of the volcano continues and ash explosions up to 10 km (32,800 ft.) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismic activity was slightly above background levels last week. Many shallow volcanic  earthquakes were registered all week. According to seismic data, ash plumes up  to 6.3 km (20,160 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano on January 03-04, 06 and 09. A strong fumarolic activity was observed on January 07-09. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a weak gas-steam plume extended about 85 km (or  52 mi) to the north-west on January 03. A big thermal anomaly was noting all week.

KARYMSKY VOLCANO: 54°03'N, 159°27'E; Elevation 1,486  m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: YELLOW
 
According to seismic and satellite data, an ash activity of the volcano was not registered last two months. However, activity of Karymsky can resume at any time  and ash explosions up to 6 km (or 19,700 ft.) ASL could occur. The  explosive activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft in the  vicinity of the volcano.

Seismic activity of the volcano was  slightly above background levels on January 05-09. There was no  seismic data on January 03-04 (by technical reasons). According to  satellite data, the volcano was quiet.

BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55°58'N,  160°36'E; Elevation 2,895 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS  YELLOW

Growth of the lava dome continues. Possibly a viscous lava  flow is effusing at the lava dome. Sudden ash emission related to this  activity could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the  volcano.

Seismicity of the volcano was at background levels on January 03, and 06-09. According to visual and video data, a moderate  fumarolic activity was observed at the lava dome on January 07-10.  According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly over the dome was observing on January 08-10. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days last week.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Olga Girina, KVERT, IVS FED RAS
E-mail: girina@kscnet.ru
Tel. (41522) 58627

Svetlana Droznina, KVERT, KB GS RAS
E-mail: ssl@emsd.iks.ru
Tel. (41522) 59523

Tom Murray, Scientist-in-Charge, AVO
E-mail: tlmurray@usgs.gov
Tel. 907-786-7497

The Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) is a  non-commercial cooperative program of the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO,  USA), the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (IVS) FED RAS and the  Kamchatkan Branch of Geophysical Survey (KB GS) RAS (Russia). KVERT staff  is available in the office from 8:30 AM till 6:00 PM (KST or KDT) and by  phone during the evenings. KVERT uses daily satellite imagery, information  from remote scientific observation stations, real-time seismic data for 10  volcanoes, and other information to monitor activity at Kamchatkan and  Northern Kuriles Volcanoes.

The official web-page of KVERT (the  Institute of Volcanology and Seismology FED RAS): http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index.html 
Archive of daily information KB GS RAS: ftp://emsd.iks.ru/pub/DATA/RTS/Volcanoes
KVERT Information Releases at the web-page of AVO (Alaska Volcano   Observatory): http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/avoreport.php?view=kaminfo